


Trapped in Shadows

by LadyKnight33



Series: Reaper76 Collections [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Talk of Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21670576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKnight33/pseuds/LadyKnight33
Summary: After months of chasing Reaper across Europe, Jack finally caught up with the man a top a crumbling skyscraper. Then Gabriel changed the direction of their meetings, revealing a moment of weakness.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes & Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Series: Reaper76 Collections [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584623
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53
Collections: Reaper76 Free For All Secret Santa 2019





	1. Trapped in Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Akiko_Natsuko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/gifts).



**Trapped in Shadows**

Reaper finally stopped running. 

From city to city across eastern Europe, taking advantage of Omnics destabilizing governments to cover his crimes, Reaper constantly fled face to face encounters with Jack Morrison. In one sense Jack knew he was being led during this chase. But it didn’t matter. Reyes was the answer. Had the answers. Each encounter ended the same way. One of them wounded and Reaper fading into the distance.

This time in the middle of a bullet riddled square the inky smoke pooled just out of range of Jack’s peripheral. His visor alerted him to the dark presence. On instinct he dropped and rolled under the percussive shotgun blast. Up to one knee, Jack fired into the swath of shadows, determined to not let Reaper flee yet again. Deep in his gut guilt and shame churned at having to shoot his old friend. Not that his bullets caused Reyes any damage this time. 

That white mask haunted the witching hours of the morning when sleep remained elusive. Now it hovered at the edge of an alleyway. Silent. Daring him to give chase. Again. Jack sprinted headlong towards his target, ignoring Ana’s voice in his ear telling him to fall back. Retreating created this rift. And he wasn’t going to let it continue. Acknowledging the pursuit Reaper disappeared into the shadows. Through back alleys. Up abandoned stairs. Always turning the corner just as Jack caught sight of him. 

Until the soldier trapped him on the roof of a skeletal skyscraper. Concrete facade flaking off after years of bombardments. Reyes stood at the edge of the building. One step and he would fall into the darkness of the night. No stars to guide him in this light polluted city. Slowly Jack advanced, afraid the man would leap off the ledge and end the chase forever. Pulse rifle remained ready should Reaper turn those Hellfire shotguns back on his former comrade. 

“Come to finish the job?” Reaper’s gravelly, electronically blended voice broke the tense silence.

Unwilling to lower his weapon completely, Jack did pause. “We need to talk.”

“Talk.” Reyes remained perfectly still. His voice more of a growling sigh. “To late for that.”

“Gabe…” Jack carefully lowered his rifle. Someone needed to make the first steps.

“Don’t!” The muzzle of the shotgun filled his red tented visor. Angry scowl evident from Reaper’s voice alone. “Don’t you dare!”

“Alright.” Jack raised both hands to show he meant no harm. “Then why are you still here?” With the mask in place reading Reaper’s emotions was impossible. For several pounding heartbeats those shotguns remained poised to blast his head off. Then they vanished. 

Reaper returned to the edge of the fifty story building. The great skyline of the city spread out before them. “Finish the job and kill me.”

There was no way Jack could have heard this correctly. “What?”

“Kill me, Jack.” Standing at the roof’s perimeter of the broken skyscraper, Gabriel removed his mask, letting it dangle in his clawed glove. Black leather and deep recessed hood hid the cellular destruction Ana had described. Reaper kept his back towards Jack, further preventing the reveal. “I can’t do this any more.” This explained the chase to an isolated tower. No chance of Talon interfering or overhearing this moment of weakness. Of honesty.

Jack frowned. After everything he had done, he wasn’t worthy of offering his old friend support. “You can’t die yet. Not when we’re so close to taking them out. You promised. No more flags.” He had lost so many over the years. Another might tip him over the same edge of sanity.

Gabe let the owlish skull mask clatter to the asphalt covering the roof. “I failed.” A faint hunch to the old soldier’s square frame developed.

“I looked into the men and women you assassinated. They all had ties to Talon while working for Overwatch.” Jack and Ana were devastated to learn this. At how deep the betrayal went. How long Gabriel must have suspected. Jack’s heart hurt at learning how difficult it must have been for his friend to keep this sorrow hidden. And that Jack had not given it the same level of concern at the time must have slowly destroyed Gabriel’s trust. “It’s not like you to give up. What’s changed?”

“Look at me, Jack.” The former Strike Commander was looking. Reaper however had not turned around. No glimpse of the damaged face. “Every day is a struggle. More than usual. I can’t keep going like this. This is what my life has become. This is my curse. Killing just to stay alive.” He turned and Jack could not stop the shock forcing him to reel back in horror. The very skin, muscle and bones of Reaper’s face regenerated and decayed before his very eyes. Constantly changing. The man’s soft brown eyes gazed up at him, weariness filling them when the nanites allowed their presence. “See. Not even you can look at me.”

The disgust crumbled within his chest just from watching the agony flash within Gabriel’s eyes. “What happened?” Constantly accused of having a bleeding heart seeped into this very interaction.

“I’m not a doctor. I don’t know. Just…. The people I kill… Something in these little bugs sucks the bodies dry. Into mummified corpses. It’s the only way to maintain anything remotely human looking. Most of that energy goes to maintaining my limbs so I can walk and interact with the world. I can’t do this any more, Jack. Kill me. Please just kill me…” The man once celebrated for ending the Omnic crisis had devolved into this terrorist pleading for an end.

“I can’t…” The very thought of killing his friend burned in his chest. He was no stranger to death. The war, SEP, and Overwatch left a trail of bodies in his wake. Yet Jack and Gabriel had trouble dying.

Gabriel dropped to his knees black smoke billowing angrily. Jack stepped forward, not sure what he intended, but feeling the need to comfort the man. “KILL ME!” Reaper roared with his gravelly electronic voice scratching from the volume level. “Every second is pain. A never ending nightmare. Jack…” Desperation stared up at him from the recesses of the hood. The soldier shed his visor and knelt next to his former partner. Whispers and pleas for death continued until Jack pulled Gabe to his chest and hugged him close. 

“I can’t, Gabe.” A tremor coursed through Gabriel’s body as he finally accepted the fond nickname once again. “But I will find a way to end your torment. If that is one more flag on yet another coffin, then so be it. I just wish it didn’t have to be yours.” After the initial horror of what had become of Gabriel Reyes, Jack found no further fear or disgust from holding the body desperate to decompose in on itself yet also constantly rebuilding. It was undeniably strange. Gruesome. But this was still Gabe. The man who had saved the world countless times and never once asked for acclaim. The man Jack Morrison would follow into the pits of hell. “Come back with me. Perhaps Angela can figure out what happened. And … fix? … you?”

Gabriel pushed away until Jack could see the decaying flesh firm up under the influence of the nanites. Reaper’s legs vanished into a haze of formless hovering nanobots. This apparently conserved whatever energy it was he used to reform the face into something more alive. Gabriel’s trademarked beard joined the scarred flesh. Those soft brown eyes were now covered with a black film. Apparently Reaper could not force all of his organs to return on command. His moment of weakness passed with a firm voice. “There is no fixing this, Jack. Moira says the condition is stabilizing. That only means I can control some of the regeneration. And that my mind is constant now. I do not remember what happened. Only through news reports and stolen files did I learn about the explosion. Moira seems to think I was caught up in the flames. By that point she had already experimented with my genes to try and fix their deterioration. She speculates that someone tried to heal my body with that technology Angela has. According to her, it triggered the hyper-regeneration and decay.”

“And you trust her?”

“When it comes to science, genes, and my apparent state of health. Yes. She caused part of the problem. SEP did the rest.”

“I don’t understand.”

A small chuckle, almost like old times. “Sure you do. All that about good genes? You have them. Out of all of us that survived the program, you’re the only one alive without long term ill effects. Not all of those on my list were corrupted Overwatch agents. Some were soldiers from the program looking for ways to die. Having a body fall apart on you but not being able to die by most normal means is hell. There were two who tried to blow their brains out only to have the bullet shatter against their iron hard skulls.”

“You… Gabe…” What was he listening to? Gabriel couldn’t have killed fellow soldiers. It was unthinkable.

“They were suffering, Jack. They asked me to. Doctors still won’t help with suicides. And those in the medical field are the only ones who know how to kill enhanced soldiers.” Gabriel spoke matter-of-factly. The same no nonsense tone he always used when discussing missions that went awry and he was forced into actions that Jack would never understand. 

“And that’s what you want. To die.”

Gabriel sighed and leaned further against Jack’s shoulder. Only the top of the man’s head visible to Jack now. Hood dropped low to his shoulders, exposing Gabriel to the only one the old soldier ever trusted. “Now I do. But not before. Not when you and Overwatch were in such trouble. Then I only wanted to live long enough to get you free from that mess. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to tell you to quit. To walk away from all that political bullshit.”

Managing a huff of amusement, Jack tucked his arm firmly around his former partner. Offering what little comfort he could. “If I recall you did tell me a few times.”

“Apparently not forcefully enough. You stayed. So I stayed to watch your back.”

“Like you always do.”

“Someone had to. Ana meant well, but she had a kid.” Gabriel tilted his head up until those black film covered eyes stared straight back at him. Slowly parts of the man’s face decayed to give the eyes life. Horrific and amazing. Those were the same brown eyes he had come to trust. “Promise me, Jack. Promise me that when you finally accept that nothing can be done, you will find a way to end this. Anything to end this miserable existence.”

“Will you come back with me? Abandon Talon?”

Silence. Only the eyes were spared the revolving decay. They narrowed in intense thought. “We don’t have enough to take them down. They’re careful. More than we ever imagined.”

“You’re not giving up on this, are you?” All this talk of death made Jack fearful he wouldn’t have his partner in finally getting the answers he needed.

“Heh. You know me too well, Jack. You’re right. I don’t give up. But I am tired of saving the goddamn world.” Resting his head back on Jack’s shoulder, Gabriel released nearly a decade of tension.

He was going to regret his decision, but really, it wasn’t his to make. “Then I promise, Gabe. I will stop at nothing until you can rest. Maybe then we can finally retire.” Ana did keep reminding him how much she had enjoyed her attempt at retirement. Anything to put thoughts of loosing Gabriel behind them.

“If you even think about a retirement home in Florida, I will go back to trying to kill you.” The playful bite to the warning brought back memories of better times.

Gabriel really did know him too well. Jack had only ever joked about retiring to Florida, just to spark this very amused argument. “I was thinking about going back home to the farm in Bloomington. The one that hosts the corn maze every fall.”

“With the haunted house? Maybe I’ll visit then.” Gabriel’s smile was only heard through the assisted voice generator. The man equaled out the nanites and rested fully against Jack’s chest. He appeared asleep, though Jack knew better. No matter how strange the body, it felt good to hold Gabe again.


	2. Unfocused Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel has only wanted one thing. To keep Jack safe. Perhaps there is hope for a happy ending after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew I wanted Gabriel's side of the story, but couldn't think of how to approach it before the gifting deadline came. Well, here it is. More angst, more emotional hurt/comfort but with a happier end. Relatively happier.

**Unfocused Light**

Silence within the transport. A cavernous hold of a hover-ship flying them to another city. Another job. Another encounter with the past. There were so few places in the world Reyes had not seen with his own eyes. Almost all of those sights began within the same bleak metal interior of an Orca. Rarely were any of those missions pleasant. With his eyes closed Reaper could easily replace his current companions with past comrades. Most long dead. Some better off not knowing the truth. War by any other name would smell as desolate. No matter which side of the battlefield one marched for. 

Gabriel Reyes once believed in the cause he championed. Risked his life millions of times for other people’s ideals. Fought to protect the innocence of the world. Spurred on by a pair of mournful blue eyes. Until the frontline surged across the flimsy boundary of his private life. And the last words of the man he trusted echoed through his hollow cranium. Brains a jumble of particles only capable of repetition.

_“I will kill you myself.”_ Fury masked those wholesome blue irises. The only company while locked within his own mind. It still haunted him in moments of isolation. Since pain accompanied all motion, Reaper regularly sought out isolation and stillness. Then the background itching of healing and static shock of decay were manageable. But that singular thought quickly returned. But now it was accompanied by silver hair and earnest denial. His last hope for death vanished in a single breath.

Morrison still knew nothing of rotten underbelly of life. Gabriel had tried so hard to shield the man from the sight. Even now, when his soul cried out for release from the agony of life, Reyes could not force his Jack to tarnish that personal code of ethics. Integrity ran deep within Soldier 76. Reaper could only curl up at the soldier’s feet and hope for scraps to influence him. 

Jostled from introspection by a rough landing, Reaper focused on solidifying his limbs. Once he stepped out of this transport he was a ghost. A mask. A terrorist for hire. Not his chosen profession, but the only one left to him. There were no more ideals he wished to champion. Only loyalty to a paycheck. It had worked well until Jack showed up to insert his righteousness into Gabriel’s revenge. Killing for a bounty suddenly became tainted with morals. What was it about Jack that made Reyes want to be a better person?

The soldier just assumed Gabriel integrated himself into Talon’s inner council for the sole purpose of taking them down from the inside. Not thinking about the thing Reyes had become relied on death to exist. Talon had the targets and the money. Moira the knowledge and skill to keep Reaper together. Reyes had only one skill set that interested both parties. No morals required. Until Jack. With the consummate soldier on a solo mission to take down the world’s most powerful terrorist organization, Gabriel felt his personal wish fade away. The longing to stand beside that light returned. With a simple loving nickname. And his mission changed.

Today would be the end. He had no way to inform the Soldier. No way to know if Jack would be in the city. Their only link focused on her holographic display. He hadn’t known only because he hadn’t wanted to know. Now it seemed so obvious. Jack struggled to put pieces of the long game together. He always tried and readily accepted help from those better than him. Sombra had decided on today. This had been her plan all along. Gabriel was impressed. He might have been involved earlier if his survival hadn’t been his only goal.

Today was the day Akande ignited a second war between Omnics and humans. Null sector was poised to attack the guardians of the Omniums simultaneously. With the God A.I.s back online, the warrior robots would once again consume cities. The burgeoning second coming of Overwatch would try to stop him. There was only a small window of opportunity until hell returned to the planet. And no one with any morals could get close or even do the job required.

Cairo held nothing but bad memories. The city kept to its reputation. Blistering heat poured from the equatorial sun. Anubis would be the start. Doomfist came to ensure this attempt to restart the God A.I. succeeded. The only way to stop this armageddon was to kill Akande and the Omnic accompanying them. Reaper strode behind them. In the shadows like always.

When Winston dropped heavily onto the packed earth, the tension finally broke. Reaper had no interest in the dialogue between the regrouped Overwatch. Just that the great ape was finally here and the chaos of battle was about to begin. Talon soldiers and Null Sector bots rushed the ragtag collection of would be heroes. So few of them had ever seen actual battle. Reaper held back. His cells cried out to participate in the carnage. To suck the life from the dying. But that was not his job today. The Omnic slipped past the main confrontation. Reaper followed. He was to keep this Omnic alive so Anubis could finally activate.

Rockets exploded between them. White hot pain seared across his chest as rifle bullets met their mark. Soldier 76 knew how to make a grand entrance. “This ends here.” He even managed to make it appear as though the two old soldiers had never reconciled. The man’s acting skills had improved somewhere along the line. A mask always helped.

The cloaked Omnic growled in a low dangerous hum. Jack would not survive an encounter with this thing. Reaper put his shotgun at point blank range of the metal casings and fired. The Omnic whirled around, critically injured but still strong enough to grip Reaper’s throat and slam him into a stone pillar. He crumpled. A body screaming in agony. Reyes wanted this to be the end. But Jack was still in danger. It was always Jack. Only Jack. Gabriel would see the world burn before letting any harm come to Jack.

He fired again and again into the armored Omnic. Shotguns empty, Reyes flickered into smoke, escaping the death grip. Repeatedly he filled the Omnic with poisoned shot. But robots had no life for him to leech. No way to repair the damage he accumulated. Gabriel continued until the hunk of metal stopped moving. Then so did he. Crisis averted. Cover blown. Nowhere left to go.

The blazing hot Cairo sun crept closer to the horizon, filling the dusty air with rays of golden light. Silver hair glowed a radiant blond once again. One word filtered through the haze. A frantic, desperate call. Gabe. That name felt like coming home. It ricocheted along side the molecules of his brain.

When he opened his eyes to the blinding white artificial light of an all too familiar lab, Gabriel sighed. Still not the oblivion he longed for. Soft chatter filtered through his foggy thoughts. It was hard to concentrate.

“It’s been a week,” a thick gravel deep voice punched through the gentle lilting conversation.

Softer though unkind, “It took months last time. And it took nearly six years before he was stable. So if you want my assistance, then let me work.”

Jack and Moira. Two voices he would never forget. But why were they in the same room?

“It seems to me that this time his condition isn’t nearly as detrimental as before.” Concern and curiosity created a unique tinge to Angela’s voice.

Reaper went through the systems check he developed for this broken body. Ears intact. Eyes debatable. Limbs solid enough. Core? Filled with pins and needles threatening to rip him apart. Not new. Brain? Comprehending and sending successful signals to the rest of his body. So no worse off than usual. Only this time his thoughts clung to a single word. 

“Gabe?” That was it. Only one man got away with giving Gabriel a nickname. Bright blond hair and puppy dog blue eyes. And the heart of a hero.

“This isn’t the farm house.” Gabriel hated the electronic voice generator, but his vocal cords never stayed. 

“It isn’t Florida either.” Jack leaned over the exam table. Silver hair and rude scars dominating his boyish charm. “Welcome back.”

Gabriel sighed heavily before pushing himself into a sitting position, legs dangling off the table. The room spinning as his molecules struggled to keep up with his demands. He glared at the scientist and doctor huddled by the the door. Somewhere between the need to know and not wanting to deal with his wrath, Moira and Angela hovered with indecision. “Not by choice it seems.”

“Null Sector never activated Anubis. Winston managed to take down Doomfist again. Talon has gone back underground. Didn’t think you wanted to miss seeing the world safe again.” Only Jack could sum up years of work and suffering into three simple sentences.

“One of these days you’ll realize that I like being dead.” Reaper settled his feet onto the floor and promptly stumbled as they couldn’t bear his weight. Strong arms caught him. Held him close. Together Jack guided them to the floor. Never once giving up his position of support.

“I don’t like you being dead.” Jack managed a broken whisper. 

Gabriel remembered the terror washing through Jack’s cries in the temple entrance. The frantic calls for Gabe to stay with him returned to bouncing through Reaper’s brain. Loud, obnoxious noise. But a welcome replacement for the angry threat that had accompanied Reaper for nearly six years. “I very clearly remember you threatening to kill me.” Jack’s eyes widened in shock.

“What? I…” Six years was a long time for someone who could distract his thoughts with mundane deeds. Jack didn’t remember. The whole of Reaper’s existence for the past six years hinged on that one phrase which the speaker dismissed a lifetime ago. “Gabe…” Reaper tensed with the nickname. He wanted to hear it again but didn’t feel worthy of the attention. “That was right before the explosion, wasn’t it.” Reaper nodded and Jack sighed. “I’m sorry. I spoke out of anger. You were always going on these unsanctioned, suicidal missions. Endangering the teams. I just…. no. No excuses. Gabe, I’m sorry. For everything.” There on the floor, trapped within the soldier’s arms, Gabriel believed him. An excellent soldier with remarkable aim, the farmer from Indiana would never be capable of murder.

Just a flimsy pipe-dream of disconnected neurons.

Words of forgiveness tasted strange on the tip of his tongue. The final days of Overwatch had been stressful. Both had said many things neither truly meant. Gabriel’s attempt to rectify these wrongs was stopped short when the doctor leaned over them. “Actually, I think it is possible to fix some of this degeneration. At least manage the pain you must be going through.”

He did not want to go through this. But the hope in Jack’s eyes lulled Gabriel into acceptance. Anything was bearable when he stood beside his long time partner. “After this, I retire.”

“I’ll get the condo in Miami ready.”

“I swear, if I end up in some retirement home in Florida, I will shoot you.”

“So the retirement home in Indiana is a better choice?” Jack’s winning smile procured chuckles from the ladies and a massive groan from the wraith sitting in his lap. Ultimately it didn’t matter where they ended up. So long as it was with Jack.

Gabriel directed his attention to the doctor. He knew his flesh was in constant flux of healing. It was just background discomfort for him now. The thought of reducing the pain never registered as an option. Moira was a scientist. Pain control was not her strong suit. “What will this treatment do?” Even Jack was silent. Hope filling every fiber of his being. The soldier assist Gabriel back to sitting on the exam table while Angela explained.

“The genetic changes in your body, both from the SEP and Moira’s tampering are at war with a natural state. If we can isolate what it is that fuels your cells now, we can manufacture it. You did respond to the bionic field. So that’s a place to start.” Doctor Ziegler was in lecture mode. She had help turn a half dead human body into a cyborg. Gabriel was about to become the next medical project. His life had turned into a long experiment. “And with access to Jack’s DNA we can figure out where yours failed.”

Gabriel resigned to trying this treatment. He had promised to try the possibilities to prove there was nothing to be done. He had procured the promise from Jack. Now he needed the doctor to understand. “Angela, before we try this… I’ve already accepted that there is nothing to fix me. Stabilized or comfort, fine. But if it doesn’t work, I want this misery to end.”

“But…”

“I will do whatever you tell me to, but I am the only one who seems to understand the futility of these treatments. So please. When no more possibilities come to mind, change your research into finding a way for me to die.”

“Gabriel…”

“It’s no different than hospice. Only my body refuses to rest.”

Put on the spot the doctor glanced between Moira and Jack, hoping to find support there. Jack looked away. Somewhere in his old partner understanding had taken hold. One more last ditch effort before accepting the inevitable. Moira shrugged indifferently. This was simply another experiment for her. Her words did surprise Gabriel. “You do realize that if Angela’s proposal works you will be essentially immortal. Like you already are, just without the pain.”

“But… Jack…?” Always back to Jack. What would he do without the soldier? Suddenly he knew why Jack was trying so hard.

Soft blue eyes met the gentle amber trying to stay. “Death is inevitable. SEP gave us more years than we could imagine. At least we can spend this next era of peace together. A couple of old soldiers without a war… A proper retirement. Think about it, Gabe. A civilian life. For just a little while. Then we can go to the next life together.”

Together. They had done everything together since first meeting on that top secret base for experiments. Appropriate. 

**Epilogue**

Gabriel stood in the command center of Watchpoint Gibraltar for the first time in a decade. It was a little dated now. Dusty from disuse. But Athena was here. The reason for this visit. Winston had the far side of the base, housed within the cliffs. No one but the A.I. knew Gabriel was here. He needed answers and his last attempt had not gone over well.

He touched a console. Bringing attention to the fact someone had invaded her sanctum. No alarms blared this time. Only a gentle pulsing blue dot. Not even a greeting. Gabriel shouldn’t have been surprised. He hadn’t left the best impression during their last encounter. “Athena… I…”

“Commander Reyes. You require information.” Her gentle voice harbored no ill will.

“Yes. You’re the only one who might have that information. Were you listening in on Jack’s office the day of the explosion?”

The pulse slowed as Athena searched the depth of her database. “Yes.”

“Can you tell me what Jack said. Right before the explosion?”

“It is not classified. Not what I expected you to be searching for.”

“Different agenda this time. I’ll leave you alone after this.” Gabriel leaned across the console, suddenly exhausted. Angela’s treatment had indeed minimized the chronic pain. Even given his molecules greater stability. But it hadn’t completely eased the feeding requirements of his cells. Regular food only did so much and it had been a while since he had consumed either raw energy or actual food.

“Commander Reyes, the information you seek is fragmented. I do not have the entire conversation.”

“I really just need to know why he threatened to kill me.” Answers to six years of suffering.

The intelligence paused. “That appears to be intact. Would you like me to play the excerpt?” The real question was whether Gabriel was ready to hear it.

“Yes.” Gabriel closed his eyes and waited. Six years of his life had been spent believing his friend and partner had betrayed him. Now he was finally getting the truth. 

Static filled the empty command center. Jack’s voice, still smooth as sandpaper and much younger filtered through with solitary words. When the recording settled Gabriel gripped the console tightly. Not ready for this revelation. _“You’ve threatened the very foundation of this organization for long enough with your recklessness. Next time my agents are put in danger because of your brash actions, I will kill you myself.”A distant explosion. “Gabe? Gabe! Come on, Gabriel, wake up. We need to get out of here.” Jack grunted as if he had taken a hit or struggled to lift a heavy burden. Then static._

“That is the final recording of the Strike Commander’s office before all devices were destroyed. This was saved because of the lock down defense protocol.”

“The black box. Thank you, Athena.” Gabriel reached the top of the stairs, a mix of emotions. He had no idea what he had said to Jack to trigger that response. It could have been any number of things. Or perhaps Gabriel had entered the office just to receive the lecture after yet another mission ran into the ground. So many had failed in the last few months of Overwatch’s existence. And Gabriel had not found the exact source until too late. Different people for each different failed mission. He had struggled for so long to prevent all those deaths. To the detriment of his relationship with Jack.

Vanishing into thick tendrils of loosely bound biological particles, Gabriel whisked his way across the cliffs of Gibraltar, making his way home. A quiet farm in the backwaters of Indiana. Just two veterans eking out a decent living. Where the highlight of his year was creating the corn maze and the haunted house. Jack took over the summer cookouts and tacky holiday parties. Gabriel learning how to work the land much to Jack’s amusement. Jack volunteering them for various town functions. No one realizing those two veterans were the infamous Commanders of a long lost era. Their names regulated to the history books and the end of their story written in privacy.

It was time Gabriel left this mess behind him. Time he stayed at home.


End file.
